Air & Space Museum turns 50

A science exhibit at the Ford Building in Balboa Park, which in 1980 became the official home of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

A science exhibit at the Ford Building in Balboa Park, which in 1980 became the official home of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

A science exhibit at the Ford Building in Balboa Park, which in 1980 became the official home of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Maren Dougherty

Today, Feb. 15, the San Diego Air & Space Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary of opening to the public. SDASM has released its guidebook, "Celebrating: a History of the Museum and its Collections."

SDASM was once called the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

SDASM was once called the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

SDASM was once called the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

Image of the Ford Building from the 1930s

Image of the Ford Building from the 1930s

Image of the Ford Building from the 1930s

SDASM first opened on Feb. 15, 1963, in Balboa Park’s Food and Beverage Building. It then moved into the nearby Electric Building in 1965, where it remained until 1978, when a fire destroyed the museum and its contents. The board, staff and members, with strong support from the community, immediately began to rebuild and moved SDASM into the historic Ford Building in 1980, where it resides today.

Today, SDASM is California’s "Official Air and Space Museum," one of the four largest aviation and space museums in the country and home to the third largest aviation archives and library.

SDASM recently opened "Ripley’s Believe It or Not!." This is the first time a Ripley’s exhibit has returned to San Diego since the California Pacific International Exposition in 1935, the same year the Ford Building was built.